Wear inserts in dobby jack

ABSTRACT

A SNAP-ON CONNECTING DEVICE FOR A LEVER IN WHICH THE LEVER HAS AN OPENING TO RECEIVE A WEAR INSERT IN A SNAP-IN RELATIONSHIP. THE INSERT IN TURN HAS AN OPENING GOR RECEIVING A TRUNNION OR OTHER CYLINDRICAL PRJECTING PORTION OF A CONNECTOR IN A SNAP-IN RELATIONSHIP.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Raymond F. Dion 2,919,722 l/l960Alford 139/88 Worcester, Mass. 3,021,307 2/1962 Csendes 1..28/Polyurethane [211 Appl. No. 821,428 3,262,469 7/1966 Blakely,.lr...v 139/84 [22] Filed May 2, 1969 3,315,706 4/1967 Butler 139/88 [45]Patented June 28, 1971 FOREIGN PATENTS [73] Assign 388,697 3/1933 GreatBritain 139/84 Mass 515,088 11/1939 Great Britain 139/84 459,090 8/1968Switzerland 139/88 [54] WEAR INSERTS 1N B BBY JACK PrimaryExaminer-James Kee Chi 12 Claims 6 Drawing Figs- Attorney-Howard G.Garner, Jr [52] U.S.C1 139/84, l39/88,308/238 [51] int. Cl D031: 13/00[50] Field of Search 139/88, 84,

L (A)28/(P9lyurethane)3080381237 ABSTRACT: A snap-on connecting devicefor a lever in which the lever has an opening to receive a wear insertin a [56] References cued snap-in relationship. The insert in turn hasan opening for UNITED STATES PATENTS receiving a trunnion or othercylindrical projecting portion of 2,911,685 1 1/1959 Macdonald 308/238Xa connector in a snap-in relationship.

PATENTEnJunzmsn 3587560 sum 1 0F 2 INVENTOR RAYMOND F. DION ATTORNEYPATENTEUJUNZBWI 3587560 sum 2 [IF 2 minimumH111.

INVENTOR RAYMOND FI DION ATTORNEY WEAR INSERTS IN DOBBY JACK BACKGROUNDOF THE INVENTION often the case, the contacting parts are made of metal,a con-.

dition very susceptible to wear.

The wear problem is particularly acute in dobby levers; in looms wherethe levers are operatively connected to the har'-. nesses throughconnectors. The dobby levers and connectors are usually made of metaland the constant lowering and raising of the harness causes thecontacting parts to wear.

A common solution of the wear problem is the use. of wear or beatinginserts. The inserts can be made cheaply and their replacement, when theinserts are worn, is cheaper than replacing the connector or lever.Another advantage is that the downtime of the machine is minimized sincereplacement of an insert is much simpler than replacing an entireconnector or lever unit or waiting until such unit is repaired.

A disadvantage arising out of the use of inserts occurs during machineassembly. Since practically all machineryis massproduced, certain unitsor subassemblies are assembled in one location and transported to acentral location for final assembly. If the wear inserts are part of thesubasser'nbly, they may become lost during transportation from onelocation to another. If the inserts are inserted during final assembly,they a must be held while the connector is assembled to the-lever.

This makes assembly more difficult. This problem is alleviated somewhatby making the inserts so that they will fit snugly into No. 2,911,685and C. C. Butler, No. 3,315,706.

By force fitting the insert on one of the contacting elements,

the problems of assembly are eased. However, one drawback: is that oneof the elements must be held in place against theE wear insert while theother end is fastened. If the element is longer than a man's reach, thentwo men must be used during.-

assembly of this particular element. If there are several elements suchas would be the case in a loom dobby, the assem-- bler must connect oneconnector at a time between the .dobby jack and the harnesses. Theelement which has to be held may be a tension roll trunnion as in thecase of Macdonald, supra, or dobby connectors as in the case of Butler,supra.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An important object of the present inventiontherefore is to eliminate all of the above disadvantages by providing aconnecting device which is easy to assemble and economical to maintain.

snapped into place on the lever and the connector will be snapped intoan appropriate opening in the insert. The'other end of the connector canthen be connected to whatever mechanism is operated by the connectorwithout havingto hold the first end. In the case of loom harnessconnectors, the assembler can connect all of the connectors, to thedobby jacks and then connect the other end of each connector to theharness cords. In addition to original assembly, the invention is alsovery useful during insertion of a new warp beam in a loom. The presentpractice is to bring in a new warp beam already drawn in to a set ofharness frames. The. harness cords are therefore all disconnected andthere is no longer any tension on the connectors. If the connectors werenot held in place on the jack levers throughtheir force fit relationshipwith the inserts, all of the connectors would fall away from the jacklevers when-the tension was relieved. With the present connectionassembly, however, the connectors will all remain in place and theharnesses will be connected very easily.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will more readily beunderstood from a reading of the following detailed description inconjunction with the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the novel connecting device as applied toa loom dobby of the type which=has dobby jacks and harness jacks;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentaryelevation,on an enlarged scale, of one end of theconnecting device as applied to a harness jack lever, parts being brokenaway;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevation, on an.enlarged scale, of the otherend of the connecting device which is applied to a dobby jack lever,parts being broken away;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view. of a wear or bearing insert;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the invention as applied to a dobby ofthe type in which. the connector connects the dobby jack directly to theharness cord;-and.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary elevation, on an enlarged scale, of theconnector as applied to the dobby jack shown in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the novelconnectingmeans is shown applied to a loom dobby generally indicated at 10. Thisdobby is of the type which'has a dobby jack indicated at 12 and aharness jack indicated at 14. The connector itself is generallyindicatedat l6 and has two flat parallel bars 18 held; together at theirends by trunnions 20 and 22.

Referring particularly to FIG. 2, the trunnion 20 is shown already inplace in an opening 24 in a wear insert 26 which is in turn showninserted in an opening 28 in a holding member 30. Insert 26 is made of aresilient material having good bearing characteristics, Many types ofmaterial could be used but one which has shown good results ispolyurethane containing graphite. Synthetic polymer materials such asnylon could also be used. The inserthas to be resilient so that it willdeform when being forced through the entrance 29 of opening 28. Onceinside the opening 28, the insert will fit snugly as it resumes itsoriginal shape. Entrance 29 is narrower than the insert when. the insertis in its relaxed condition so that the insert is restrained in theopening 28. Opening 24 has an entrance 25 which is narrower than thetrunnions 20 and 22 so that eitherr of these trunnions can be snappedinto the opening 24 and be restrained. Harness jack 14 has a series ofV-shaped notches 32 which receive a pair of V-shaped projections 34 ofholding member 30. These notches are provided so that the amount ofharness shift can be adjusted. Holding member 30 also has a pair ofopposed indentations 36 which are made to receive a pair of projections38 in wear insert 26. The projection will help to hold the inserts inplace.

Referring to FIG. 3, the other end of connector 16 is shown connected todobby jack 12. The same wear insert 26 as shownin FIG. 2 is showninserted in an opening 40 in jack 12.

Opening 40 has a relatively narrow opening 41 which is similar toopening 29, and a pair of opposed indentations 42 for reception ofprojections 38.

When the. connections are assembled, an insert 26 is snapped intoopening 40 of each dobby jack 12. The connector trunnion 22 is thensnapped into opening 24 of the insert. This procedure will then berepeated for each connector and dobby jack. The connectors will then allbe held firmly in place while the trunnions 20 at the opposite ends ofthe connectors are snapped into openings 24 of the bearing inserts inholding members 30. The harness cords are 'operatively connected to jack14 through a jack eye 46 as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the connecting device of the presentinvention is shown applied to a dobby of the type in similar to opening29 and a pair of opposed indentations 54 i which receive projections 38of insert 26 when the insert is snapped into the opening, Severalopenings are necessary so that the amount oflift of the harnesses 56 canbe varied.

The connector which connects jack lever 50 to harness cords 44 isgenerally indicated at 58 and has a pair of fiat bars 60 held togetherat their respective ends by trunnions 62 and 63. Trunnion 62 is made sothat it will snap into opening 24 of insert 26. Trunnion 63 receivesharness cord 44.

During or before final construction, insert 26 is snapped into opening52 and then the trunnion 62 of connector 58 is snapped into opening 24ofinsert 26. This is repeated for all of the jacks on the loom and thenconnectors will therefore all be securely held on their respective jacklevers. The other ends of the connectors can then be connected to theirrespective harness cords.

Although the invention is particularly useful as applied to dobby jacks,it is contemplated that other applications could be made, such as thesupport arm and tension roll trunnion.

combination of a textile drafting machine.

It is contemplated that modifications could be made to the embodimentsdisclosed without departing from the scope of the invention.

lclaim:

l. A releasable pivoted connecting device comprising:

a. a first rigid member having an opening, the entrance of which is lessthan the largest dimension of the opening;

b. a resilient bearing insert, which in its relaxed state has a greaterdimension than said entrance and fits snugly in said opening, saidinsert having an opening with an entrance which is less than the largestdimension of said insert opening; and

c. a second rigid member having a cylindrical portion whose diameter islarger than the entrance of the opening in said insert for snapping intoand being pivoted in the opening in said insert.

2. The connecting device as described in claim 1 wherein said insert ismade of polyurethane.

3. The connector as described in claim 1 wherein the opening in saidfirst rigid member is incurvate.

4. The connecting device as described in claim 1 wherein the wallsdefining the opening in said first rigid member have a pair of opposedindentations and said bearing insert has a pair of projections for asnap-in engagement with said indentations.

5. In combination with a loom dobby jack lever having an opening, theentrance of which is less than the largest dimension of said opening, areleasable pivoted connecting device comprising:

a. a resilient bearing insert which in its relaxed state has a greaterdimension than said entrance for being snapped into and fitting snuglywithin said opening, said insert having an opening, the entrance ofwhich is less than the largest dimension of the opening in said insert;and

b. a connector having a cylindrical portion whose diameter is largerthan the entrance of the opening in said insert.

6. The connecting device as described in claim 5 wherein said insert ismade ofpolyurethane.

7. The connector as described in claim 5 wherein the opening in saidfirst rigid member is incurvate.

8. The connecting device as described in claim 5 wherein the wallsdefining the opening in said first rigid member have a pair of opposedindentations and said bearing insert has a pair of projections for asnap-in engagement with said indentations.

9. A connecting device for a loom dobby having a dobby jack lever and aharness jack lever wherein said dobby jack lever has an opening, theentrance of which is less than the largest dimension of said openings,said connecting device comprising:

a. a holding member, one side of which is adapted for engagement withsaid harness jack lever and the other side of which has an opening, theentrance of which is less than the largest dimension of said holdingmember openmg;

a first resilient bearing insert, one side of which in its relaxed statehas a greater dimension than the entrance of the opening in said holdingmember, said insert having an opening, the entrance of which is lessthan the largest dimension of the opening in said first insert;

c. a second bearing insert, one side of which in its relaxed state has agreater dimension than the entrance of the opening in said dobby jacklever and fits snugly in the opening in said dobby jack lever saidinsert having an opening the entrance of which is less than the largestdimension of the opening in said dobby jack lever;

d. a connector, one end of which has a first cylindrical portion whosediameter is larger than the entrance of the opening in said firstbearing insert for snapping into and being pivoted in the opening insaid first bearing insert, the other end of said connector having asecond cylindrical portion whose diameter is larger than the entrance ofthe opening in said first bearing insert for snapping into and beingpivoted in the opening in said second bearing insert.

10. The connecting device as described in claim 9 wherein walls definingthe openings in said holding member and said dobby jack each have a pairof opposed indentations and said first and second bearing inserts eachhave a pair of projections for engagement with the indentations in saidholding member and dobby jack, respectively.

11. The connecting device as described in claim 9 wherein said first andsecond resilient bearing inserts are made of polyurethane.

12. A releasable pivoted connecting device for a dobby jack levercomprising:

a. a first rigid member engageable with and effectively forming part ofsaid lever, said member having an opening, the entrance of which is lessthan the largest dimension of said opening;

b. a resilient bearing insert which in its relaxed state has a greaterdimension than the entrance of said opening for being snapped into thefitting snugly within said opening, said insert having an opening, theentrance of which is less than the largest dimension of the opening insaid insert; and

c. a second rigid member having a cylindrical portion whose diameter islarger than the entrance of the opening in said insert for snapping intoand being pivoted in the opening in said insert,

